First and foremost, “Saving Mr. Banks” is a big, wet kiss to the joy and head-butting of cinematic creativity. It’s also a loving tribute to Los Angeles at the height of its glamorous, easy-living glory in the early 1960s.

And no surprise, this Disney production really likes Walt Disney. Although it’s primarily pitched from “Mary Poppins” author P.L. Travers’ point of view, the movie is a monument to the entertainment mogul’s patience, likably underhanded savvy, deep (and perhaps fictionalized?) understanding of human nature and cheery aesthetic instincts.

On one side of the creative ram fight here is English (or is she really?) writer Travers, played with all the imperiousness and fidgety technique that Emma Thompson can muster. On the other side is Uncle Walt (Tom Hanks) and his creative team, mainly screenwriter Don DaGradi (Bradley Whitford) and the musical Sherman brothers, played with bemused exuberance by Jason Schwartzman and B.J. Novak. Paul Giamatti provides key tactical support as the simple studio chauffeur who shows the mean British lady that all of these happy, shiny people out here are human, too.

Anyway, after 20 years of frustrated attempts to buy the rights to her flying nanny novel, Disney has finally lured Travers from London to his Burbank lot for a few weeks, and he and the gang try mightily to convince her that their proposed movie will honor her artistic integrity. She hates all of their vulgar ideas, of course, but then the woman seems to hate everything. Flashbacks to a childhood with a beloved but alcoholic dad (Colin Farrell) may explain some of her bitter, brittle attitude, but these scenes’ function in the movie is more about pulling heartstrings.

Advertisement

Sentimentality ultimately triumphs in both the battle over the movie “Mary Poppins” and in this movie about making it. But credit director John Lee Hancock, operating on a much more complex plane than he did with “The Blind Side,” and writers Kelly Marcel and Sue Smith for taking well-aimed potshots at stuff that’s dopey about Disney in a film that mostly unfolds on Mouse-owned property.

As you might expect, however, the satire never rises to the level of corporate critique. This is a high Disney-style entertainment, often joyous with a sharp sense of humor and some great insights into how classic show tunes get made. That “Saving Mr. Banks” is sure to please and prime viewers for 50th anniversary repackagings of “Mary Poppins” no doubt has Disney, somewhere in heaven, smiling like a winner again.